Prank Wars

THE SHENANIGINS

          

            The cool breeze swept through the busy streets of Mumbai. It was almost eleven in the night on new year’s eve and the celebrations were just reaching it’s climax, with just over an hour left to bid the year adieu and welcome the new one, with a bang. Everywhere the music was blasting on full volume and the air had a different vibe altogether. Fireworks had taken over the sky which was now lit in all kinds of hues.           
        The Sassy six: Aahana, Maahi, Anushka, Vihaan, Ayaan and Sidharth, were all seated in the living room of Ayaan's penthouse, watching Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, their perfect way of celebrating New year. Soon, they would be completing their college and stepping out into the real world; all of them going their separate ways. They wanted to make the most of this little time that they had together.            
        “I’m gonna miss us playing pranks on everybody!” remarked Aahana, the most quirky and bubbly girl you could have ever seen. Aahana Sharma was easy going and smart with a witty sense of humor. She lost her parents in a car crash when she was seventeen and since then, her friends have been her everything, standing with her through thick and thin. Aahana could never be more grateful for having them in her life.               
        “I can never forget our freshers party. I can never stop laughing, when I remember how you tripped on your own dress while dancing with Ayaan!” remarked Maahi. Maahi Kumra was the most sensible of them all. Her parent’s divorce had made her grow up and act more mature for her age. She was the 'mom' of the group, as they liked teasing her. Every group of friends has that one person who is extra careful, wise and responsible, and she was just that.                
        “Oh God Maahi! Can you not go one day without bringing that torturous memory, everytime I try to erase it from my mind?” cried Ayaan Sood, the Nerd of Oakwood College. There wasn’t one thing this ‘know-it-all' didn’t have answers to. Being the son of the biggest business house in the country, he had it all.                
        Sidharth Roy and Anushka Roy were twins, for namesake it seemed, because they were complete opposites. They always kept on bickering about some thing or the other. They were the ‘Tom and Jerry' that always kept on fighting with each other; but couldn’t go on a single day without each other. While Anushka was very sweet, polite and kind, her twin brother was simply a monster in a human body – very good at heart but had made troubling Anushka his primary life goal. He was reckless; she was not. He was narcissistic; but not she. They still loved the other and stood with each other no matter what.                 
        “I’m hungry!” complained Vihaan blatantly.  “Vihaan Shah! You just finished  two large pizzas, three pastries and five packets of chips! And you still have the audacity to say that you’re hungry?! Are you even human?” scolded Maahi.             
        “I’m a growing boy, my body needs food,” Vihaan said with a hint of annoyance for being scolded for his eating food like a hoarder. Vihaan Shah was the Joey Tribbiani of the Sassy Six; there wasn’t a single time when he wasn’t hungry. He loved to eat, or better, he lived to eat.                  
        “I have a brilliant, beyond brilliant idea!” exclaimed Aahana, a bit more excited than a hamster on a treadmill. “Spit it out,” said the others in unison. “Well… I was thinking that with just a couple of months left for college to end, why not do something fun and crazy?”  Her friends knew where this was going. Whenever she came up with ideas, they knew she was cooking up something crazy inside that small mind of hers. But they always ended up doing whatever she said, and then getting caught for their mischief.                   
        “So, what is it this time?” asked Anushka. She could see the glint of excitement in her friend's eyes, and instantly knew that she was up to no good. “I was thinking that...we’ve always played pranks on others; this time, why not we play pranks on each other and decide who’s the biggest prankster of us all?!” The others were put into thought. They were all thinking the same thing - what could go wrong with this one?
        “What will be the ground rules?” asked Vihaan.
        With constant arguing and then taking votes, they laid out some rules.
1) Not hurting anyone in this game,
2) College and home were to be left out,
3) Play fair.         
        “Alright! Let’s do this,” they cheered. And thus began the game of the Best Prankster.